Mukesh  

Mukesh in Music Listening Mood.

One way out would be to discuss my colleagues. But ours is a relatively small fraternity in which everybody is closely known to everybody else It is not uncommon among ourselves to phone a colleague and compliment him on a particularly good song or sometimes even to tell him in a sprit of camaraderie that a song could have been better with a slightly different approach, but comment in print, either by way of appreciation or criticism of one's colleagues, would not be graceful. Thus, although I am the senior most member of the fraternity and theoretically in the best position to comment on my colleagues, I find my self hampered.

Turning to some generalisations, one noticeable point in our profession is the "typing" of singers similar  to the "typing" of stars.

Within the film industry and outside among the public, too, the notion is strong that such and such a singer can sing only such and such a type of songs. This notion I  strongly refute. The truth is that each singer is capable of singing all kinds of songs and has in fact actually done so in the course of his or her career. 

It is the public which has classified us. It is said, for example, that Asha Bhosle and qawalis are best suited to each other and similarly Talaat and ghazals or Mukesh and sad songs. On our part, Once we are labeled and put in different boxes, we find it difficult and even undesirable to change, for, after all, if we try to break away from our "type," it may be to incur the displeasure of fans.

Another point uppermost in my mind , and frequently discussed by film music enthu-.......... expressed that it is the music director who is solely responsible for the success of a song. Now while it would be ridiculous to under-rate the contributions of the music director, who is the one, who gives a songs its over-all shape, I must stress also the contributions of the lyricist, the singer and the recordist.

The lyricist is the one who obviously provides the very "body" of the song. I can't imagine a good song without a meaningful lyric. As for the singer, I feel he or she is the one who ultimately puts a song across. And, the best efforts of the lyricist, music director and singer will be off no avail if the recording of the song is not perfect. Today, with frequent improvements in electronics (though our own country has been slow to catch up with these), the recording of a song is a process akin to the best engineering feat - such a feat combines in itself the best of science and art, man and machine.

In the context of these different categories of people giving of their best to create a song, I can't help expressing my feeling that we singers, no matter how good we are or have been, hardly touch the 50 percent level of our real capacities. The main reason is that most of us are kept too busy for our own good. Playback singing is a matter of voice but not only that. To put a meaningful, successful song across, we have to work also with our mind, body, heart and soul. It is a job demanding understanding of song situations - achieving of oneness with the intention of the character in the film who will "sing" the song, of the lyric writer and, of course, of the music director. Unfortunately, in the rush of assignments, we do not often get time for this kind of "Identification." This is a delicate matter, one to which I most humbly draw the attention of my fellow singers.

Today our profession enjoys a certain standing. It was not so at one time. I remember a time when we just about eked out a living or something less than that. Even after the material side improved , a section of opinion persisted in grudging any definitive place for singers in film making. That this, too, eventually changed and singers got the full recognition they deserved is in no small measure due to my colleague Lata Mangeshkar, to her talent and personality.

  In The Home, Mukesh in Reading Mood.

The King of Sad Songs in Happy Mood.